William Nassikas is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Westroc Hospitality, a company that redevelops and operates several boutique resorts throughout Arizona. He has extensive experience in the industry; “I grew up within the hospitality industry with my hotelier father, James A. Nassikas, founder and past President of the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco,” he explains. He has led the development for many of the resorts he and his team now manage. When it comes to hotel development, there are several steps that should be followed if they want to avoid ending up with a non-performing asset.
- Identify the market segment your resort will cater too and understand why you want to enter that market.
- Find the site that best fits the type of resort you plan to develop. Make sure the site location and development density are in line with the expectations of the market.
- Talk to a hotel management company if you aren’t already experienced in hotel operations.
- Look at similar resorts and determine their operating performance. This will help you determine the annual average room rate, operating expense, and occupancy of similar resorts in the area.
- Determine the project’s financial status by going through the process of establishing the cost of capital.
- Prepare a financial feasibility study to determine cash flow over the first ten years of ownership. Hotel management companies can help you with these figures.
- Establish the development budget based on the discounted cash flow from the financial feasibility study.
- Execute and manage the development budget. This needs to be handled throughout the entire planning, design, and construction process.
Completing these eight steps will put you well on your way to developing a resort. William Nassikas and his team at Westroc Hospitality are currently developing the Mountain Shadows resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Also can read: William Nassikas: Three Skills Spa Managers Must Possess
William Nassikas 